Q&A with Charlotte Dobie - HybridFit

In our next instalment of ' An introduction to:' we give you an interview with Charlotte Dobie, owner of HybridFit. We met Charlotte in her studio, based in the Baltic Triangle area of Liverpool City Centre. With Charlotte winning the best personal trainer at the Liverpool lifestyle awards this year, we wanted to find out more about her and HybridFit. Here is our interview with Charlotte.

Tell us about your background in personal training?

I’ve been personal training for nearly eight years, as soon as I qualified I went freelance and would travel around to train people. Then the natural progression from that I ended up in a gym and moved around to various ones, JD gyms, lifestyles, Nuffield and a few more. But PT wise I never really fit in that environment, I always wanted my own studio so then it’s just me and the client. I’ve been in this venue since this past January

Was it a big risk opening your own studio?

It was. At the time I was thinking about the idea I was in Nuffield, it was very target driven there which at the time was very important to me. But then I had a big upset in my personal life with the loss of my brother, and that changed the way I thought about everything. When I looked at Nuffield and the importance they put on me reaching the targets I looked at it and thought it wasn’t worth it. So, from that I made myself go for it, and I feel a million times better for doing it

What would you say your style of training is?

I like to get women lifting weights, and men when I train them. I have a lot of women saying to me they would love to go to their gym but they don’t know if they’re doing it right. Since I have been training some of my clients I have had texts off them saying they’re in the gym with a set of kettlebells and dumbbells and they know what to do, for me that’s the best thing.

How do you convince women to use weights?

Well there’s always been a perception that girls do aerobics and lads do the weights, and if girls do life weights they will go bulky. Your body just doesn’t work like that. Your main building block to build weight is testosterone and women only have a tiny per cent of this within their body. It is possible for women to look like bodybuilders but that’s a full-time job working on it every day with a three thousand calorie diet.

Lifting heavy weights is going to get you the body you want in a shorter time. I like to focus on the fitness and strength side first. I get people coming in saying they want to lose two dress sizes, but I make them focus on the fitness first and then what they want will naturally come with it.

What're your key points when it comes to nutrition?

With women especially they come in saying they want to lose weight and cut carbs. But the one thing I get across to them is that your body needs carbs for fuel, so before and after your training have carbs in your meal. Then all the other meals keep your protein high, a few carbs and fibre rich vegetables.

Do you specialise in a certain type of training?

I can do whatever. Whatever the client's goal is whether its weight loss, muscle building or whether it’s a more sport specific goal I can do. After sessions, I also tell my clients that if they ever want to ask me anything to send me a message.

How long are your sessions with your clients?

I do hour-long sessions with my clients here. Session wise I do single sessions and buddy sessions. I have various packages to cater for peoples needs, just contact me to find out what I have available.

What type of equipment do you have in your studio?

I have a squat rack with the bars and the Olympic weights. I have these to get and get women out of the using machines mind frame and get them using the free weights. With the free weights, you are engaging more muscle groups and your core at the same time so you are burning more fat per rep.

The heavier you lift the fast you will get results.

What’s your thoughts on what gets put out in the news about women’s look these days?

I think for me it’s about re-educating people, I saw something the other day that said we could all eat exactly the same food and do exactly the same amount of exercise every day and will all look different. Every single body is different, there’s no rule where if you are 5’3 you have to weigh a certain weight or if you are 6’2 you have to weigh a different weight. You will have two people who are the exact same height but don’t weigh the same. I don’t get my clients to weigh themselves, I say to them go off how you feel.

If they are eating right and training hard then you know you’re healthy, it doesn’t matter what they weigh. As long as you’re comfortable within yourself and if you have come with a specific goal and you’re reaching that then you’re doing well.

Give your body what it needs and it will give you what you want

Do you have a favourite exercise you do with your clients?

I love my burpees, I know a lot of people dread them but I just love them. I like to throw 2-3 different exercises together to make one hybrid exercise, I love doing that as well.

You won best personal trainer at the Liverpool lifestyle awards this year, what was it like to win that?

It was a shock, I just went for a night out and thought it was nice to be nominated…and then I won it. I’m up again for best female PT award. To get the email to say we have been nominated it’s a nice surprise.

What would you say makes you different?

I’m really hot on clients form, I get a lot of clients to come to me and their form isn’t great, so I like to make sure anyone I am training their form is correct. I’m all about the form, I believe in doing it right at the start and then the strength will come later.